Country Rails
by SteamPunkHillbilly
Summary: Throughout the early to mid 1900s rail and specifically steam sang through the Appalachian mountains of the United States and specifically West Virginia. This is the Story of Cap' the Elk River Coal & Lumber Companies #10 as he travels through the tail end of the mining wars, railway squabbles, to become the symbol he is today of Mountain Heritage.


_**Country Rails**_

Throughout the early to mid 1900s rail and specifically steam sang through the Appalachian mountains of the United States and specifically West Virginia. The engines that roamed those mountain rails were mirrors of the people. Rough on the outside and often dismissed as unintelligent but given the time shine like diamonds in their darkest hours. This is my story of the engines of WV starting in 1927, from steam to diesel.

During this I have made an effort to type as close to my own native dialect as possible, if it is spelled wrong is it meant to be pronounced differently as I've been trying to get as authentic as possible to my heritage. Ex: Making= Makin: Pronounced Maken. as we tend to drop G's on the end of most things in this dialect. Note any comments that I deem derogatory towards Appalachians will be swiftly deleted.

I have also make an effort to name as many famous West Virginian's as characters in this fiction, although some may be out of their time periods. Some are obvious some are not, have fun and I hope you enjoy my first foray into a non Sodor based talking train fic!

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"WOOOoooOOOO!" The distinctive sound of a steam engine rang throughout the valley, this one however was new to those in the area.

Coming down the track was the newly purchased 2-8-2 Mikado type steam locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company or ALCO for short. It's fireman, a younger man around 25 by the name of Johnse Cline, a native of Clay County. Long and lean, patches covering many worn holes in in his coveralls , the young mans' long blond hair blowing in the breeze as he leaned out of the cab window, taking a short break from his shovel work.

The driver, an older man in his early 30s by the name of Bill Blizzard shook his head at the others antics, with a face weathered far beyond what it should for a man his age and spikes of gray hair showing, he spoke of the true hardships of life in the WV Mountains. Slowly he brought his hand down to pat the side of the cab, a reassuring gesture to what was sure to be a wide eyed engine underneath.

The engine in question originally built for the Toledo Angola and Western in Ohio was taking in the views as the road back to the Elk River Lumber Company train yards. Bill noticing his new engine was being particularly quiet decided to speak up.

"So, you're from Toleda eh?" he spoke in a strong Appalachian tinted accent.

"Yes Sir." He responded quietly, still not sure what to make of his new crew.

"Oh don't be so formal, we are gonna be spendin a lot of time together, might as well treat each other as equals." Bill called back, easing up on the regulator as they started to descend downhill.

"Equals sir?" The engine replied back extremely confused with the prospect.

"Yea equals, you know like we share a whole piece of the pie after a long day's work. You take care of us, we take care of you." Johnse put in only furthering the engines confusion.

"Oh shut up Johnse you're only makin in worse." Bill growled then turning his attention back to the engine. "What's your name then, you gotta have a name."

"A name sir? Only the upper class engines got those, I and the others only went by numbers." The engine spoke, slowly becoming more comfortable with the men.

"Well how do ya like that? No name, and no gumption. Lord we've got to teach him or the other engine's will eat him alive." Bill groaned.

"Hey, so what was your job up in Toledo?" Johnse asked trying to think of a name for his new engine.

"Well I was the lead shunter in the yards, and short workman trains." He said, as they rounded the bend to another mountainside.

"So you were a leader, so how about Captain, or Cap?" Johnse suggested as Bill rolled his eyes.

"Johnse that is the stupidest…" he was cut off by his engine.

"Cap…. I like that, can I keep it?" the ALCO asked of the older man.

"Ugh…well fine If you like it." He said as Cap and Johnse smiled.

"What kind of work do we do?" Cap asked as they pulled into a now empty Elk River coaling yard.

"We help pull coal and waste out of the Widen mine." Johnse stated as they began to back down on a waiting line of coal cars.

"I take it that is where we are going with these?" Cap asked eying the cars who looked nothing like he was used to. Old, dirty, and heavy, the cars Cap found were hard to start.

"Come on boy! Let's get er rollin!" Bill yelled as Johnse stoked the fire.

"Yeah you don't want to get embarrassed by the Buffalo Creek and Gauley Loco's do you?" Johnse prodded hoping it would provide a bit of extra motivation for the engine.

Sensing the air of a bit of rivalry Cap replied. "No, I sure don't"

"That's a good engine." Bill purred as they crested a mountain curve. Cap looked over to see a couple of different rails moving in and out of the mountains, some a different gauge then his own.

"If I may ask, where are the other engines? We've been to the yards, been coupled up and left without seeing any others?" the ALCO asked.

"First what did I say about that formal bullshit? Second they are out working, no lazy engines in our business." Bill snapped back.

"I dunno, it was kinda weird to not see nary a one in the yards." Johnse put in, backing up Cap.

"Well we should run across one of the Climax's sooner or later." Bill conceded as they rolled along a strip of track near the Gauley River. The colorful fall leaves making a camouflaged pattern as they fell into its slow waters.

"It really is beautiful here." Cap remarked as they began their decent into the mining area.

"Ah it ain't much but it's home, and hold tight, we are about to dive into to a not so pretty part." Bill commented.

Up ahead was the entrance to the Widen mine, a main source of revenue for the ERC&L company. Coal has always been an integral part of the culture of WV and though it shares a debated status in the here and now, then it was king and spurred major development all along the mountain state.

Cap pulled in just in time as there was a large shipment waiting on them, he uncoupled his empty cars on a siding and was recoupled to a new set of full cars to the brim with the black diamonds. Cap groaned thinking about how much heavier these new cars were going to be now that they were loaded.

While he was waiting he watched the men, sweaty a near black covered in coal dust coming in and out of the mines like so many bees to a hive. Some wore red handkerchiefs, others not, Cap made a mental note to ask about that later.

"Time to go Cap!" Johnse called out, blowing the ALCO's whistle.

"Alright, Alright," Cap called giving a mighty heave starting the cars back up the mountains.

"Hold on Cap, we've got to head down the route into town, we've got some suppliers there we need to speak to." Bill corrected him, heading down a route the ALCO had remembered passing on the way in.

Coming around a particularly sharp bend Cap was ecstatic at the thought of a downhill journey only to be met with another winding uphill mountain curve.

"Damn it….." he cursed under his breath as he began the slow seesaw like accent.

"So who are we delivering to?" Cap asked, trying to learn as much about his new home and company as possible, so far it had been fascinating and exhausting.

"One of the Norfolk and Westerns engines is waiting on us, they will be taking the shipment out to a Navy manufacturing plant in Norfolk Virginia. They need it to help build Warships for the new Pacific fleet." Bill relayed as they pulled into the town of Widen.

There Cap spotted another loco, a 2-8-0 Baldwin with the number 7 painted on the side, the lettering "Norfolk & Western." Painted on the side of its tender.

As he pulled alongside and got ready to uncouple he noticed the other engine giving him a once over.

"So, you're the new Elks' engine, not bad, at least you're not another Climax. Tell me where abouts are you from?" the number 7 asked.

"I'm from Toledo, Oh, and what's wrong with being a climax?" Cap wondered, he had heard of the type before but had never seen one before.

"Oh nothing, just being up in all that isolated air in the mountains tends to make their smokeboxes go foggy. Nothing to worry about, I'm sure you'll get along just fine." The N&W laughed back.

"Oh….Ok….by the way, what's your name?" he asked hesitantly.

"Oh I'm sorry, my name is Blue, short for Bluefield. They named me after the town in which I work. If you are ever in the area give me a whistle!" Blue called as he felt his driver climb back into his cab.

"Good-bye! Nice to meet you!" Cap called as the N&W pulled out, bound for home. Turning back to his own crew he found the two men arguing.

"You can't just go around causing fights Johnse!" Bill was scolding the young fireman.

"They were insulting my dad! I'm not gonna stand for that." He spat back.

"He insulted the mines and the union workers." Bill growled back.

"And my dads a miner therefor he insulted my family."

"Yes your dad but not you now get back up in this damn cab before I yank you up here!" Bill exclaimed as the younger one reluctantly stepped aboard.

"Um….sorry to be rude but what exactly happened back there?" Cap asked as they started to move forward.

"Nothing you need to be…" Bill was cut off by Johnse.

"Well if he is going to work here he needs to know our history doesn't he?" the younger asked.

"Fine….you do have a point." The two men proceeded to tell the young ALCO about the region including the miner wars, the Battle of Blair Mountain and just the general overall feel of the area. By the end Cap was left feeling a bit more comfortable and proud of his new home. During this time he had been so enthralled with their story he didn't notice they had wound up back at the ERC&L yards. Cap was uncoupled for the evening and backed into a shed next to what he thought was a very strange looking engine.

"Well Cap it was a pleasure, we'll be seeing you tomorrow bright and early, get some good rest, you'll need it for next day's run." Bill bid farewell to the new engine. Johnse just giving him a wave and a smile as he darted off.

"So you're the new youngin eh?" the strange looking engine said, eyeballing him from the corner. The engine, a Climax C4 Standard gauge class C70 chuckled at the ALCO's somewhat frightened expression.

"I suppose so…who are you?" he muttered, to the geared engine.

"Me? Why I'm Devil Anse. Named after the famous Hatfield of course." He chuckled watching Cap's eyes go wide.

"Just call me Hatfield. I take it you are the new mixed traffic engine for the mines and long haul?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, I just finished my first run, this land is beautiful." He added, hoping to get on the Climax's good side.

"It is, unfortunately though, you'll have to share it's beauty with this ugly mug tonight." Hatfield laughed earning a chuckle from the ALCO.

"Actually if you don't mind Hatfield I have so many questions…." Cap began, Hatfield shaking his head to continue. The two talking well into the night about the land, humans, company, and surroundings. Cap found by the end of it he finally started to feel like he was home, as he watched the stars and mountains dance together across the night sky.


End file.
